Chandigarh, May 10
Antibiotics and not vaccines are the surest way to combat meningococcal meningitis. After a few isolated cases of the disease were reported in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali, doctors insist that antibiotics must be relied upon as they start acting immediately against the disease rather than the vaccines, which take at least 15 days to start combating the infection.

Recommending against the use of vaccines for meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection, Prof Rajesh Kumar, PGI, says, “The vaccine is not at all recommended even for the confirmed cases of the disease, let alone the normal man, as it takes around 15 days for the vaccine to act on human body. If we keep waiting for such a long time the infection will worsen. Moreover, the antibiotics are the most affective treatment as they start combating the disease immediately. To the suspect and the confirmed cases of meningitis and also to the persons in close contact with the patients, we are giving antibiotics only.’’

The doctors further say that the vaccines if at all to be given are administered only under the “rare circumstances’’ where the patient has “immuno compromise’’, his immunity is very low. “We also do not recommend vaccines for general public because the vaccines may create a false sense of security where the people may believe that they cannot acquire the infection. But the truth is that vaccine is not a foolproof way of combating the disease, and in 90 per cent cases it is not required at all. Moreover, with each injection costing Rs 600, it is economically not feasible,’’ adds Prof Kumar.

Another serious limitation of the vaccine is the fact that it cannot be given to the children below the age of two years.

Despite a “no need situation” the chemists across the city say that the stock of vaccine are lying with them. They add that there has so far been no demand of these vaccines in Chandigarh. “We have the stocks of the vaccines but so far no body has asked for the vaccines. Common people are preferring to go to the doctors if they have the symptoms,’’ says general secretary of the Chandigarh Chemists Association, Mr Vijay Anand.

The Director Health Services, UT, Dr C.P. Bansal, further adds, ``Patients and the close contacts are being given antibiotics as the infection is very sensitive to the antibiotics. Moreover, the residents should not take any vaccines as there is no epidemic situation in the city. Even in Delhi where there are far more cases, the doctors have given antibiotics rather than any vaccines.’’

Chandigarh, May 10
Two Class VIII students of the local St Stephen’s School are back from Tashkent. And they have reason to rejoice. They were part of the Indian under-13 football contingent which won the under-13 Festival of Football held in the Uzbekistan capital from May 2 to 8.

The Tribune team met the two — Arashpreet Singh and Simranjeet Singh — on the school campus. The two were elated at the team’s performance. And Arashpreet had reason to be the happier of the two. He showed the wrist watch he had won at the festival when he was adjudged the best in the skill test among Indian players conducted by the Asian Football Confederation

Talking about the contest, Arashpreet said the confederation made the selection after seeing the skills in short passes, long passes, dribbling, shooting and juggling. He could not have asked for more on his first trip abroad with the football contingent.

Simranjeet Singh had triumphed in the skill contest conducted by the All-India Football Federation during the trials to select the team in Kolkata before the departure of the team for Tashkent.

India triumphed scoring seven points, with Iran finishing a close second with six points. The Indian boys drew their match against Iran 2-2, but scored identical 2-1 victories over Tazakhistan and Kazakhstan.

Under-13 footballers from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Tazakhistan took part in the seven-day football festival held under the aegis of the Asian Football Confederation.

The Indian team comprised four players from West Bengal, three from Punjab, two each from Chandigarh, Meghalaya and Mizoram and one player each from Haryana, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Goa and Maharashtra.

Chandigarh, May 10
Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 16, beat Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, in the boys’ category in the 20th Subjunior UT State Handball Championship 2005-06 at DAV School, Sector 8 today.

The other results are as follows: Girls: Guru Nanak Public School b Govt Model S.S. School-16; Govt Model School-44 b C C, Sector 42; Govt Model School-21 b C C 23; Girls Junior C C-19 b GMSSS-21.

Boys: C C, Sector 23 b SGGS-35; C C-42 b G N School-30.

Chandigarh, May 10
Cricket allrounder Yuvraj Singh today said that candidates shortlisted for selection as national coach were top class cricketers and it hardly mattered who was picked for the job.

Yuvraj said a person of the stature of Mohinder Amarnath could easily fill the gap left by John Wright, the outgoing coach of the Indian cricket team. The cricket allrounder, today visited the DAV Cricket Coaching Centre, Sector 8, to interact with budding cricketers.

He termed the tenure of John Wright as excellent.

Though disappointed with his performance in the recent cricket series between India and Pakistan, Yuvraj offered no excuses. “I could not play well but I am preparing to give better results in the coming season,” he said. “Batting at number six or seven gives few opportunities to play one’s natural game,” he said.

Talking about recent one-day series against Pakistan, Yuvraj said: “Pakistan had a tour of Australia before coming to India which improved their game.”

Chandigarh, May 10
The Minerva Academy continued its amazing run of victories to enter the semifinals of the 10th Om League-cum-Knockout Cricket Tournament held on the Sohana recreation grounds today. In the quarter-final today, the Minerva Academy thrashed the PCC XI by a whopping 140 runs in a 20- over match.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, the Minerva Academy put up a huge total of 177 runs for 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Harpreet Sunny scored a brilliant whirlwind century making 108 runs in just 56 balls. He was well supported by Ravi Dhaliwal, who scored an unbeaten 51 runs of just 22 balls, to take Minerva’s score to 177 runs. Harpreet Sunny’s century was studded with 10 boundaries and six huge sixes.

Then it was two of the Minerva’s bowlers who matched the performance of their team’s batsmen and bowled out the PCC’s team for a measly 37 runs in 12 overs. Former Himachal Ranji bowler Parveen Sharma bowled a match winning spell picking 6 wickets in his four overs to send the opposition top order packing as none of its batsmen could even reach double figures. Parveen’s incredible figures read 6 for 6 in 4 overs. Waqar Ahmed and Ranjit Bajaj took two wickets each to warp up Minerva’s brilliant bowling and batting performance.

Minerva Academy 177 for 5 in 20 overs (Harpreet Sunny 108, Ravi Dhaliwal 51 n.o.); PCC XI 37 all out in 12 overs (Parveen Sharma 6 for 6, Ranjit Bajaj 2 for 10, Waqar Ahmed 2 for 7).

Chandigarh, May 10
Kalyani (current cadet champion and national player) of Tender Heart School won the girls singles title by defeating Priyangi (current sub-junior Himachal champion and national player) of Carmel Convent School, Nahan, 3-0 in the ICSE Inter-School Table Tennis Tournament, organised by Tender Heart School, Sector 33-B, here today.

St Kabir, Sector 26, Little Flower School, Panchkula, Carmel Convent School, Nahan, St Stephen’s School, Sector 45, St Xavier School, Panchkula, and Tender Heart School took part in the competition.

Kalyani won the first game by a narrow margin of 14-12. In the second game, both players Kalyani with the help of her good high-toss services and forehand smashes won that game pressure as she thrashed her opponent 11-6.

In the boys singles final, Raghav Sharma of St Kabir School, Sector 26 (current national player and ranked no. 2 in Chandigarh), won the title by defeating Varun Bhandari of St Stephen’s School, Sector 45-A, 3-1.

Results:

Boys singles (senior): semi-final: Raghav Sharma (St Kabir) beat Himanshu (CCS Nahan) 3-0; Varun Bhandari (St Stephen’s) beat Raghwinder (St Kabir 3-0. Finals: Raghav Sharma (St Kabir) beat Varun Bhandari (St Stephen) 3-1.

Junior boys (singles): Semi-finals: Abhyuday Singh (CCS Nahan) bt Aman Gupta (TH-33) 3-0. Ashutosh Kohal (CCS Nahan) bt Abhijeet Saluja (TH-33) 3-1. Finals: Ashutosh (CCS Nahan) beat Abhyuday Singh (CCS Nahan) 3-2.

Girls singles (open): semi-finals: Priyangi (CCS Nahan) bt Shubhangi (CCS Nahan) by 3-1, Kalyani Kakkar (TH-33) bt Gujan Mahnindra (CCS Nahan) 3-0. Finals: Kalyani Kakkar (TH-33) beat Priyangi of (CCS Nahan) 3-0.

Team events: Carmel Convent School, Nahan, beat St Stephen’s School 3-1.

Chandigarh, May 10
In a massive drive tomorrow, the Municipal Corporation will uproot cable connections of more than 50 operators in the city who have not deposited the ground rent for using the municipal land in laying their network. As many as eight teams have been constituted for the action and the corporation will also seek support from the police in carrying out the exercise.

Each cable operator is expected to deposit Rs 1000 per month per sector of operation. The corporation had earlier this month drawn a list of 102 cable operators who had failed to deposit their share of the ground rent. The rent is due for the period between May, 2001, and April, 2005. The issue of the rent for the earlier period will be decided by the house later, it was decided.

The last day today saw a heavy rush of rent depositors. A senior officer of the corporation said that the total bill amounted Rs 29 lakh. Out of the total Rs 16 lakh has been recovered. All “well connected operators” have deposited their rent which “was a very positive signal”.

The corporation has also given an option of receiving on-the-spot payments from the defaulters. Payments can be made either in cash or through a bank draft. “No cheques will be accepted because certain cheques last time had bounced”.

Cable operators were panic-stricken today. An operator based in Sector 37 said that “the matter ought have been decided after proper discussions. Despite repeated requests for deliberations, the cable operator have not been given due representation on any committee by the corporation. This could lead to inconvenience for the general public”.

He said that the during the operation of uprooting cable wires, many operators who had deposited the full payment saw their connections being disturbed as well. A senior official said that all operators have been informed to accompany the dismantling drive to show areas of their connection.

Chandigarh, May 10
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has posted Mr Amarnath, a UT cadre IAS officer as Chief Executive Officer of the Chandigarh Housing Board to replace Mr K.S. Wahi who was shifted back to a week ago.

Mr Amarnath has earlier served in Chandigarh as SDM and Land Acquisition Officer in 1995-96. Meanwhile Mr S.K. Setia, the present Land Acquisition Officer, has written to the Chandigarh Administration that he wants to go back to his parent cadre of Haryana.